Results tagged ‘ World Series ’
Moyer and Burrell File for Free Agency
New Phils GM Reuben Amaro, Jr. says the team would like to have both men back. Both were key parts of this season’s success and both are fan favorites for reasons that parallel their careers. Moyer is the hometown blue-collar journeyman reaching the highest pinnacle of his profession with the team he grew up idolizing, vexing men half his age with the sweetest filth you’ve ever seen from such a stand-up guy for 16 wins this season and a clinic in the Series along the way. Burrell’s the ironic hero; drafted first overall 10 years ago, the longest-tenured Phillie didn’t consistently exceed the impossible expectations of that distinction or of his monster salary. Recently, though, The Bat has seen a renaissance, coming up big these last few seasons and playing decisive roles in the playoffs and, despite going 0-for-20something in the World Series, leaving a distinctive mark on this franchise forever by putting the winning run on board in Game 5 with a gamechanging double. Nevermind that it would have been a triple for anyone else; in the course of baseball vindication, these things are overlooked.
If Moyer doesn’t come back to Philly, I’d like to see him take some time off with the family and come back in 2010 as a pitching coach for a contending team. If he ends up on any other roster in 2009, I hope it’s with the Mariners alongside Junior.
If he’s heading anywhere, Burrell’s going to the AL as a DH. In the early part of this season I argued he’d fit perfectly with a club like Tampa Bay (warm weather, lack of veteran leadership). Imagine that World Series rematch.
As a Phillies guy, I’d love to have Moyer and Burrell back. I also wouldn’t blame either of them for hanging ‘em up and not only going out on top, but, importantly for both, going out as World Champ Fightin’ Phils.
A Neutral-site World Series Isn’t Baseball
I’m kicking off this blog with an email I wrote to RealClearSports Managing Editor Jeff Pyatt in response to a great piece he ran a few days ago. The subject line of my email was “thank you”:
Hi Jeff,
ever come under the consideration of sports fans or analysts. I’m
disappointed in the otherwise flawless Peter Gammons here. The site IS
the sport in many ways. The fans are the 10th man, and I’m not just
saying that because I am a 1980-born Phillies fan or because my son was
born the day they clinched the division last year…
embarrassing. You get the feeling it’s a venue no one ever expected
the rest of America to see. Bull pens in play? Unless they’re being
used to house real bulls when the games aren’t on, I’m not interested.
And a dome? And turf? I know it rains a lot in Florida, but still.
No wonder the Rays were so bad for so long. The design for the
proposed new Rays Stadium is great. Lets hope that with the team’s
new credibility, something will move on that front.
+++
Peter Gammons is universally acclaimed for his baseball zen. I’m the only person I know who likes Skip Bayless, but they’re both wrong about a neutral-site Series. Jeff Pyatt is dead on.
What’s the point of home-field advantage if there’s no home field? A “summer” sport shouldn’t culminate in the fall? Then why does a fall/winter sport (football) culminate in warm weather every year? In February, by the way?
Baseball is an elemental game. The weather, the dirt, the distance to dead center, the angst of the fans– these are baseball’s tangible intangibles and they’re different in every park. Baseball is superstitious and redemptive and narrative precisely because it’s not uniform. MLB may be a monolith, but there’s enough quirk across the game’s geography to imbue a sense of ownership to a team’s–and a city’s–fans. Take that away and what’s left isn’t baseball. It’s physics without psychology and statistics without soul. How boring is that?
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